


The BirdKeeper

by GlowInside



Category: Original Work
Genre: BirdKeeper, Fluff, G/T, Multi, Story Driven, giant tiny - Freeform, soft g/t
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-16 13:58:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7271071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlowInside/pseuds/GlowInside
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fairies only exist in legends and myth, so why is it that something so fake could be so real? Kara, a young girl deemed by humans to be a sort of fairy, finds out the hard way that life can be cruel at times and fling you into the hands of some human.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've worked on this for a while but a long while ago, my computer decided it to be a good idea to eat the files. SO. I've worked on it and re-written it to come to this. I might not have weekly uploads, but will try my best with uploading whenever I have a new chapter written, along with my other stories. Enjoy! Comments, critiques, and help welcome!

In all honesty, the quiet of the forest was all she knew. She went with the flow of the flora and fauna that swelled and grew around her from high above. Just peering over the edge of her perch, she could see the dew laden grass below with ferns and flowers dotting the ground between the trees. In the distance, she heard a fox bark and could hear the shuffle of feet close by from some of the local deer. 

The young girl pulled back from gazing out of the knot hole in the tree where she lived. She patted at one of the walls, speaking with a soft “good morning” before she yawned and stretched. As she did, the pair of wings on her back splayed out, stretching each part of her wings, the small tail that was hidden under them also fanning out in her morning stretch. The feathers were a brilliant red, almost like raspberries, and ended in a deep lilac. Her skin was slightly tan spotted with many dark freckles and her hair framed her freckled face, curly and long and matched her wings in color.

She changed from the nightgown that she wore to bed, folding up the blue garment, what looked like it used to be a silk head band for a giant and remade into the gown. Setting the folded garment aside, she grabbed what looked like khaki material made to look like shorts with a click that unhooked to fit around her tail. After being sure that was on right, she grabbed a shirt that was made to have an open back and a hood with no sleeves. She adjusted the material, more cotton like, and looked herself over.

“Time to go look for breakfast!” The bird grinned and fixed her bed, a bundle of soft material that was super soft and fuzzy. She checked on some materials she had inside the knot hole before going over to the opening and standing on the edge.

The sun was slowly rising, evaporating the dew drops off of everything the rays touched. Birds fluttered overhead and she smiled, knowing the morning light had woken them. She looked down to the ground again, able to see a fox poking around at the bushes beneath her. The girl stretched her wings and looked ready to take off. 

That was, until she was startled so suddenly and tumbled back into her little dwelling place. “GOOD MORNING!” Came a loud and cheerful chirp as she brushed herself off and stood back up.

When she turned around, a small girl, about the same height stood grinning and smiling at her. The black wings on her back twitched as she hopped into the little room with her. She had curly hair, tied up high on her head that crowned her deep chocolate skin. Her brown eyes glittered with laughter and the feathers of her tail twitched. The girl had her hands in fists that rested on each hip. Her clothing looked similar to Kara’s, but it was more green colored and a bit shiny in appearance.

“Tabitha, I swear one of these days you’re going to do that and I’ll twist a wing and fall…” she sounded upset but wore a smile on her face as she scolded her friend. 

Tabitha giggled and her swallow wings fluffed a bit, the red and soft white spots showing when the dim rays of light hit them from outside. They as well as the hints of red in her hair almost glowed.

“I’ve been doing this for AGES I would think you’d expect it by now.” She grinned and fluttered over a few inches to pat her friend on the shoulder. The red head groaned lightly while pretending to be annoyed. “Yes Tabby, but I prefer to give the benefit of the doubt to people. Especially you.”

They both laughed quietly before Tabitha tugged on Kara’s arm gently. “C’mon then, breakfast! We need breakfast!” Being drug along, Kara stumbled after her in an attempt to follow.

Both girls flexed their wings at the opening of the tree, being sure all their feathers on wings and tails were in their proper order. The swallow took the lead, letting herself drop like a missile from where she stood, wings tucked in tight to herself as she zoomed downward, spreading out her wings just before she brushed the tops of the nearest fern. A moment later, Kara followed after the same way, catching herself with her toes touching the top of the fern leaves.

After their fun drop, they glided and weaved their way through the trees, flapping their wings when needed. They were headed towards their favorite spot where they could find berries and fruit on occasion that they would share. Kara thought happily about getting to have a cherry, or maybe a strawberry or raspberry for breakfast. Those seemed to be her favorite. She knew Tabby would go straight for the blueberries or try to see if she could get a pear to drop from one of the trees.

They followed through a small patch of ferns, a small opening that opened quickly into a glade within the woods. A few bushes lined the glade and fruit trees dotted the edges of it. Kara overtook her friend and fluttered down to the closest bush. The dark and ripe skin of raspberries ready to pluck caught her attention straight away. She couldn’t resist the fruit.

“Look look!” her friend called. Tabitha had ran to make her way over to a different bush when they landed. She came running up to Kara with a berry in each hand, looking like she won the lottery.

“Blueberries!” They giggled in unison in excitement.

Kara plucked one of the bigger raspberries from the bush, fluttering down with it in tow to sit with her friend under the leaves of one of the bushes. The sparrow was already halfway done with her two blueberries, one no more than the leafy part on the ground. 

They both enjoyed the quiet breakfast, one finishing faster than the other and waited patiently for their friend to finish. Tabitha was up and done before her friend and made her way over to one corner of the glade. It was surprising, the white mystery wood structure still stood there each day. She could never figure it out. Some of the local birds would use the contraption for nests but she could never see herself using them. They looked too… perfect. They weren’t natural. So far, they seemed to be harmless despite their looks. It still didn’t settle the unease she felt about the wooden beams.

Tabitha was about to make her way back to the other side of the glen, but was stopped short in her tracks by a loud shriek. 

\------------------------------------

The birds were starting to chirp outside as they flew and darted around a large house planted on the edge of the forest. It was cozy and looked almost untouched and abandoned. At least it looked that way until a few lights in the house flicked on while it was still hazy and dark.

A young man looked out the window into the dark forest, a tired and wondering expression on his face. He couldn’t have been too old, his dark skin and strong facial features making him stand out. Olive green eyes stared lazily at the trees as the wind blew a few of the leaves to the ground. He sighed, stifling a large yawn and a stretch where he extended his arms over his head, his back giving a small crack. He paused to tie up his unkempt hair that was a mess from sleep before turning around at the sound of jingling dog tags.

“Morning Juni, you lazy-bones. Usually you’re up before me,” the man chuckled and smiled down at the dog that had entered his room. He bent down to pat her on the top of the head, scratching her floppy black ears a bit. “Joking, of course. Morning Juniper.” He smiled after, standing to rest his hands on his hips. He loved his dog and the house the both of them shared. The little dog was an Italian Greyhound with deep black fur, the only white was the bits that looked like her tail tip, paws, and her chest were dipped in white paint. Her chocolate eyes stared up at him brightly as she yawned and looked at him expectantly. The turquoise collar hung around her neck jingled with the ID tags that were there to keep her safe in case she decided to venture off by herself into the countryside. 

She trotted past him towards the door and used her claws to scratch lightly at the door to tell him she wanted out. “Alex, please let me out!” he made a silly sounding voice as if speaking for her before smiling and unlocking the door to crack it open. Juniper scurried out the door to gallop out into the grass for her morning routine.

Alex stood near the doorway and yawned. He was awake before the sun once again. His sleep had been horrible recently and he didn’t know if it was being lonely or being in a new house. This old countryside house used to belong to his grandmother and knowing how much he enjoyed it, she had left it to him. Barely having much money to survive on his own, inheriting the house in his situation was a small stroke of luck. It was also helpful in his field of bird research to have a house so close to the woods of many rare and unseen bird he had yet to encounter. He had only read about some in books and it was a big exciting adventure to him.

He watched through the window as Juniper trotted her way around the back yard, sniffing here and there at patches of grass before finding a spot to do her morning business. Afterwards, she looked around and began looking into the trees, sniffing here and there where she could and scratched at some of the grass. She came tearing away from the trees when he opened the door to let her back inside. She knew they would both be headed on their morning walk when he was finished with his breakfast.

Making a few breakfast sandwiches for himself and eating them up fairly quickly, he let Juniper finish her own food before letting the door open to watch her race outside. Alex rolled his eyes and chuckled, following after her towards the trees. She trotted through the woods ahead of him and sniffed here and there as they went on their morning route towards the bird houses.

After moving in, he brought along his bird houses from his station. He was able to set them up for the local birds and the birds seemed to love it. He checked in when he could throughout the day to see if the birds were using them. They were already setting up nests and thankful for the new and improved homes than the bird houses that were dilapidated and falling apart at the edges of the woods.

Juniper pausing and taking almost a cartoony hunting dog pose made him stop in his tracks. Her ears were perked towards where the houses were stationed. That didn’t seem like a good thing.

Before he could take any more steps forward, he could hear a squeaking noise like a shriek of pain. It reminded him almost of a rabbit screaming… Alex bolted forward into the clearing where he saw the bird houses unharmed and untouched. He thought maybe it was nothing until he saw a stray cat that was pounced on a bird. He should let nature take its course and animals do their thing, but something didn’t feel right about the situation. Juniper started barking and growling and the cat glanced upwards. The fur on its back started to rise and it began pacing away, leaving its kill on the ground and once it was far away from reach, it pounced into the bushes and ran off into the trees.

He groaned in worry, Juniper making her way towards the dead bird. “Juni, don’t do that. Stay away. I want to clean up before this scares the other birds…” She stopped, but something was still very uncomfortable. A strange feeling sat in his gut as he slowly made his way over to the bloodied bird, which he soon saw wasn’t a bird.

On the ground, wings covered in blood, was a small girl not more than four inches tall. She was bruised and bloodied with purple-ish wings with one looking bent out of shape. Alex cringed and tried to move Juniper away from the girl. It was a shock, almost like a fairytale. She was as small as a fairy with colorful hair and freckled skin. He took a deep breath and his hands steady while he cupped his hands under her. He was careful not to jostle her wings. This was far beyond normal for him… this was the first time he saw anything like this. Was he sure he was not dreaming?

Stumbling on his foot that woke him while he was trying not to drop her, he knew he was awake and aware. Sure it was early in the morning, but he sure as hell was not sleeping. Juniper followed close on his heels and almost tripped him up a few times. She looked just as worried about this small bird girl as he did, her ears alert and nose twitching. 

This was going to be a long day…


	2. Chapter 2

Alex paced the floor quietly, his fingers rubbing carefully at the bridge of his nose. He still felt as though everything was a dream. It had been a few hours since he had “rescued” this small girl who could fit into the palms of his hands. She was like a small bird, tail feathers included. Bringing her home with no idea how to deal with the situation, he had put a make shift cast with a popsicle stick to keep the bone in one of her wings straight. She would have to rest amd let it heal. The other wing was strained and almost looked as if she had dislocated her shoulder and it may have shifted back into place while he was bandaging her up. But now, leaving her to rest, he paced the floor of his living room without any idea of what he was doing while Juniper watched him closely from his couch. 

Stopping in his tracks, he groaned and gripped his unkempt hair in his fists. Juniper whined a little as he flopped down on the couch next to her. He sighed deeply to try and relax.

“What in the world am I to do, Juni? If I take her to a doctor or a vet… good gracious I'd end up in a funny farm…” he voiced his concern. There was no way he could tell anyone about this mysterious girl. He was a bird caretaker, it was possible to handle this on his own. But the question was “how”?

He forced himself to get up and go to make some coffee. A little bit of caffeine would make this easier, to wake him up a bit and to think clearer. The man ruffled through the mess of his counter to get the coffee maker unblocked from view while managing to find the coffee and filters to set it up. He had it brewing within moments.

While waiting, he snuck back to the guest room he had, peeking in to see the small girl still asleep. He had gingerly taken a pillow and made a small bed of it for her and used the edge of the large comforter to cover her like he could cover a normal person. It worked and all he could see from his view was the impression she made on the piling where she seemed to be sleeping rather comfortably. That fact was a relief off of his shoulders and each time he checked on her he was more than happy to know she existed and this wasn't some lack-of-sleep induced dream. Juniper would follow him and try to sneak into the room, but he wouldn't let her. He was afraid she would get the wrong idea and hurt the small girl by accident. 

The coffee pot started to sputter, signaling his drink would be done. He rushed back to the kitchen to make his coffee with extra cream and two sugars before cleaning up his mess. A few swallows gone and he could feel himself relaxing already. He wasn't one for caffeine intake too often, but a once in a while pick-me-up was always nice. He took a seat at his chair, setting his cup onto his dining room table to relax a moment. 

\- - - - -

Whatever happened, she could remember nothing but pain. Her wings felt as though they were on fire and burning like paper down to her bones. She couldn't escape!

Kara awoke with a scream, gasping for breath and grabbing at her chest and the blankets around her. The cloth was soft and easy to hide under to keep her safe from the world around her. The burning and throbbing sensation stuck to her in the real world as well and made her move super carefully. It ached and burned and made her feel like she was really on fire. Her wings weren't paper, but they were stiff and sore. The smell around her was nothing like that of her home, the cloth of her blankets different and the bed much larger than she last remembered.

Removing her comfort cover, she sat up slowly to check herself over. Everything felt sore and grossly dirty, as well as having a stick of some sort pasted to her one wing, held in place by thick pieces of some weird type of plastic. She had a bad feeling about what this could mean for her…

It was then that she took a second breath to look at her surroundings: everything was HUGE. The bed she was on was massive, extending out like an ocean in front of her, the covers would be able to easily smother her. Large containers were in the dim room and she could only assume they were boxes and dressers for clothing and storage. The windows were huge and square, the glass revealing the outside world to be growing dimmer by the minute as nighttime would soon be setting in. 

She jolted upright and stumbled, nearly falling flat on her face. Kara caught herself and gasped, standing up straight and feeling how stiff her wings were. The hard burning sensation told her one was broken and the other had somehow been strained, possibly a pulled muscle. She tried to hop her way carefully across the expanse of the bed to the edge. Kneeling down she was able to get a good look at the space she would have to drop to get from the huge bed to the floor. A drop like that would surely break her other wing, or worse. She backed away slowly and took a look around the room for a way out…

Nothing.

The girl shuddered to think what was going to happen to her. There was a human somewhere in this house and they were going to do as they pleased with her. She was at their mercy, a living doll to play with.

“Stop that, you’re fine… you can get out of here.” Kara whispered to herself and shivered once more at the thought of being at the mercy of such a huge being. She wanted nothing to do with this place. Trying to shake the thoughts off, she attempted to catch her hands in the quilt of the bed and slide down towards the floor. Most of it went fine until she reached the bottom and jostled her wing, sending her into a fit of pain and stifling a scream.

Taking deep breaths helped to calm her even though she was still in a panic. “C’mon, girl. You can do this. You need to get back to Tabitha and your friends…” she murmured through grit teeth.

Before she could begin her trek across the floor, she heard a small gasp from behind her and she glanced over her shoulder to see a large figure standing many stories taller than her. It was massive and could easily crush her with a hand or foot. She let out a loud squeak, rushing to dive under the bed in front of her. The thumping of the giants feet shook the entire world around her as she crouched and started to do an army crawl to get farther away from the large hands that could grab her. 

Once she felt safe under the bed frame, she could hear the grunts and sighs of the giant from where she sat. 

“Please come out, you're injured. I can help, I promise.“ She curled up, hugging her legs tightly and trying to breathe as the giant spoke. She could see it kneeling outside and the voice was softer than she was used to hearing. It was calm and collected and nowhere near as loud as the voices she'd often hear in the forest. It gave her a sense of security, but she still refused to move. 

\- - - - -

He couldn't reach or see her anymore and it gave him anxiety. She could hurt herself if she wasn't careful! Alex sat back on his knees and sighed while he managed to brush his hair from his face and tie it back with a hair tie and clips. He gripped the bridge of his nose and squeezed gently before telling himself things were okay. 

“Look, I know you're scared right now. I know that. But I promise I just want to help you. Your injury could get worse if it isn't treated.“ Alex had nursed birds back to health before, but a bird girl? That was something completely different. She could probably care for herself, but how could she do that if she had no way to fly? He sat back, rubbing his forehead gently with his fingers. Maybe he could scare her out…? Or convince her to come around?

Alex leaned his back against the bed and signed tiredly. He had a feeling he might be sitting there all day. The man sat quietly and rubbed his neck slowly and tried not to think too much about it. 

A bit of time passed before he noticed a small squeak of a voice from behind him. Alex peered down to see the small girl staring out at him. Her face was red as if she had been crying or upset at the situation. He kept very still and started quietly as she slowly crawled out from under the couch. She was shaking immensely and seemed to be unable to look up towards him. His breath caught in his throat as he refused to move. Frightening her was the last thing he wanted to do, so he turned slowly towards her and faced the small girl. 

She looked up to him but her eyes darted away as soon as she met with his own. Her arms were crossed over her middle in an almost defensive pose. Both stayed quiet in their stand off. 

“U-Uhm… can you… can you help me?” her voice was barely audible. He nodded quickly and held one hand out to her, biting his lower lip when she flinched at his movements. “Sorry, let me help. I take care of birds so maybe I can help with your wing…” Alex gave her a small smile. “You can call me Alex,” he offered. 

The girl seemed as though she was about to speak, but her stomach gave off a small growl. Compared to her, it was probably loud. He should have looked away and given her a moment, but he couldn't help but laugh as her face turned beet red. “You must be hungry.”

“My name is Kara, not hungry…” she muttered. 

After calming himself, he nudged his hand a little closer to her in signal for her to climb on. The small girl looked terrified. He knew she was with just the way she’d glance at him. He continued to offer his open palm, watching her weigh her choices in her mind. She could choose to run and leave once he left, or run past him and find a way out, or trust him. He hoped she would trust him…

Looking defeated, she stood and balanced her hands on his fingers, grabbing on and hoisting herself up while being careful not to jostle her wings. Alex was hesistant to move after she climbed aboard with his nervousness. What if he dropped her? What if he scared her while walking out to the kitchen? What was he going to do with her…? He swallowed down his fear, moved slowly as he stood, and started making his slow way out to the kitchen with his small passenger.


End file.
